Loan to make 50,000 eco-bricks for classrooms

Entrepreneur

About Me

I am Charles Butiko, a Kenyan Development Consultant (and trainer), with a background in engineering, business management & entrepreneurship, and environmental management. I am a social chain entrepreneur with interests in chemical & food technology, agribusiness, renewable energy &environmental conservation, education, research, and cottage industrialization. I work through both business, and community development models, which enable me work with
several people, schools, government institutions, non-governmental
organizations, and private enterprise.I am an innovator, a thinker and enjoy providing solutions to people's challenges. I also serve as a motivational speaker
during community development forums. Through Integrated Development program, I launched a number of 'community development initiatives' including 'integrated sustainable development practical life skills program'. Through this, I am constantly getting opportunities to empower groups and individuals.

My hobbies are traveling, discussing issues, and meeting and making new friends. I am very passionate about our recent 'sustainable practical life skills program' for community. We started with training groups and individuals how to make, package and brand sanitation & beauty products like soap, hair shampoo, disinfectants, and organic home-made insecticides. We then source raw material for them and offer technical support during their project work. This has received an overwhelming response and I can see it grow wider since we plan to introduce other modules in food technology, renewable energy technology, water technology, and organic/herbal health solutions.

My Business

I work as a development consultant, researcher, social entrepreneur, and community development leader, and motivational speaker. Through Integrated Development Agency, I have teamed up with others to create a difference in people's lives by partnering with various organizations to initiate the integrated development program which works and proposes to continue working in various sectors.

Our most interesting programme is the 'integrated sustainable practical skills programme'. This program has modules premised on different sectors like: sanitation, beauty, food technology, renewable energy technology, organic/herbal health, and business improvement. Sample practical modules include: how to make & package soap, hair shampoo, disinfectants (under sanitation); glycerine, lotions, creams, beauty soaps, other (beauty); yoghurt, ice cream, jam, tomato sauce, chilli sauce (food technology); biogas, biodiesel, energy briquettes (renewable energy); herbal health solutions (health); business plans, project proposals, strategic plans( business improvement). We organize training forums and charge at least USD 3 per head. We can serve at least 50 attendants per session and hold at least 2 sessions per week. Thereafter we supply raw material to all interested in making the products from home. This program is picking up well and complements my income from selling products like: soap, shampoo, glycerine, disinfectants, honey, and from other talks. I have also partnered with a firm to supply secondary school students with scientific calculators at subsidized costs (the subsidy is a benefit on costing based on bulk order discounts) early 2016.

Loan Proposal

With Ksh. 100,000 (Ksh. 68,000 equity and Ksh. 32,000 loan ) I will purchase 100 bags of cement (50Kg per bag). Using a ratio of 1: 18 (cement: soil) I will manage my team to make 15,000 eco-bricks (at a rate of 150 eco-bricks per bag of cement), in one week and a day. That is at a working rate of 2,000 eco-bricks per day, with the additional 1,000 eco-bricks made on the 8th day of the project. I have already talked with my team at 'affordable housing programme' and they have agreed to work with me, and be paid at the end of the project, which will take 8-10 weeks. My contactor friend agreed to lease to our team two soil press machines, each with a capacity of 1,000 eco-bricks per day; that means collective capacity is 2,000 eco-bricks per day hence the 14,000 eco-bricks in 7 days.

I have been given this business from the network have created during our 'integrated education mentorship programme', partuclarly when I visited for mitivational talks. After describing our solution as one that will help lower the costs of construction, the head teachers of the schools talked to the school management committees and they agreed we supply each of the 5 schools, 10,000 eco-bricks for a start. Besides, I proposed to them one contractor (who is my friend) and with whom we will co-mange the very construction projects.

The 10,000 of the 15,000 eco-bricks produced in the first week will be sold -in the third week since our eco-bricks take 14 days to cure - to the first school which will pay us Ksh. 170,000 cash on delivery (at a discounted rate of Ksh. 17 per eco-brick, down from the Ksh. 20 per brick market rate). with Ksh. 170,000 in the third week, we will reinvest by buying 170 bags of cement with which we will make a total of 25, 500 eco-bricks in the third and fourth weeks of the project. That will mean we deliver 10,000 eco-bricks to the second and third schools each in the 5th and 6th weeks respectively. In the 5th week, we will use part of the proceeds from the second school to make the remaining 13,500 eco-bricks (since we will have accumulated 5,000 bricks from the first batch, and 1,500 bricks from the second batch) to give a total of 20,000 eco-bricks to supply the fourth and the last schools in the 7th and 8th weeks respectively. That means, from the second school we will accumulate a gross income of Ksh. 70,000 since to make 13,500 we will have spend about Ksh. 100,000. Income from selling 20,000 eco-bricks to the last two schools will be Ksh. 340,000, giving the total cumulative income as Ksh. 410,000.

Our costs will be met at the end of the project and will involve Ksh. 10,000 for hiring the soil press machines, Ksh. 64,000 for labor, and a miscellaneous Ksh. 40,000 for other costs since soil is readily available. The total expenses amount to Ksh. 114,000 at the end of the project, except the loan expense which I will repay from my regular sources of income. That means. without including the loan expense, the net income will be Ksh. 296,000.

Meanwhile, before the sales income, I will repay this loan from my regular sources of income, just as I have been doing with previous Zidisha loans. Just to reinstate, I work as a development consultant, and do businesses through the integrated development program. For instance, through the 'honeywealthmakers program' we sell bee hives, honey, and construct bee apairies; though the sanitation programme we sell soap and other sanitation products; through the renewable energy programme we install biogas projects, and so on. Through the integrated education programme I work part time as a motivational speaker as well as sign up schools into this programme.

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